Machine for manufacturing spirally-wound straws.



A. A. CARPER.

MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SPIRALLY WOUND STRAWS.

APPLHIATION FILED FEB. 12. 1916.

1,252,235. Patented Jan.1,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

' A. A. CARPER.

MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SPIRALLY WOUND STRAWS.

1,252,235 vAPPLICATION FILED FEB. I2, 1916. Patented Jan. 1,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- A. A. CARPER. MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SPIRALLY WOUND STRAWS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.12, me. 1,252,235.

Patented Jan. 1, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- @FFEQG ALBERT A. oanrnn, or CATONSVILLE, MARYLAND, assrenon. 'ro 'rnn s'ron'n sraaw oomranr, or WASHINGTON, DISTRICT or oonuranna, a conroaarrorr or new JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Jan. 1, 11918.

Application filed February 12, 1916. Serial No. raose.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT A. CARPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Catonsville, county of Baltimore, and State of Maryland,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Manufacturing Spirally-VVound Straws, of which upon another, one of which at least has a quick-setting glue applied thereto.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide means for applying the glue to one of the stri s before it reaches the mandrel. Another 0 ject is to provide an automatic cutofi which travels with the straw and cuts it into lengths as the straw moves rapidly forward, the cutting mechanism being arranged to travel as fast at least as the oncoming forming straw, thereby preventing buckling which would otherwise result if the straw fed forward against the saw faster than the latter could get out of its way.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a lan view;

Fig. 2 is a si e elevation, portions of the bed being broken away and omitted;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig.

i 1, looking to the left, as indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, looking to the right; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective of the mandrel, belt,

detail, partly in 7 bed by means of a sleeve 2, which is held by a screw 3 on the bracket 4.

Over this mandrel, the straw i formed,

the straw in the present instance being made of three strips 5, 6-, and 7, preferably of paper adapted for this purpose.

One strlp, namely the right-hand strip 7 has glue applied. This is the topmost strip and 1s wound over and outside of the other two strips 5 and 6, it passin over a gluewheel 8 on the shaft 9, and being drawn under :1 pin 10, which holds the strip in contact with the roller.

The strips 5, 6 and 7 are spun around the mandrel 1 by means of a crossed belt 11, which passes over the pulleys 12 and 13, and one lead of this belt is wound three times around the mandrel, as'shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 7.

The belt-pulleys 12 and 13 are each keyed to vertical shafts 14 and 15 respectively, the latter being driven by a shaft 16, which extends diagonally beneath the bed and has bevel-gears 17 on each end to engage corresponding bevel gears 18 on the lower ends of the vertical shafts 14 and 15.

The main drive-shaft 19 extends lengthwise of the bed, and may be supported above or below; in this instance it is shown below, (see Fig. 3) where it is supported in bearings 20 bolted to the frame. A main pulley 21 on this shaft drives the belt 22, which extends over a pulley 23 on the counter-shaft 24, by which motion is communicated to the latter, this counter-shaft being supported in brackets 25, 25 attached to the bed, (as shown in Figs. 1 and 2). This counter-shaft 24 has a worm 26 keyed thereto, (as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Fin. 4.) which enga es the teeth or worm-gear 2 on vertical shalt 14, and in this way vertical shaft 1 1 is driven.

A small pulley 28 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and in full lines in Fig. 4) has a belt 29 leading therefrom over the idlers 30, 30, on the post 31, and thence over a pulley 32 on the shaft 9 which carries the gluewheel 8, and in this way the latter is driven at the required speed.

The angle and tension of the belt 11 are regulated by the bracket 33 adjustably held by the bolt 34 passing through the slot 35 into the bed, (as shown. in Figs. 1 and 3).

At the right-hand end of the machine, the

7 off, moving it forward with the straw, and

the end groove 38 rocks the saw and the frame which carries it in and out of engage ment with the straw to be cut.

The straw tube 40 is slidably mounted in direct alinement with the end of the mandrel 1, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it having a flaring bell-mouth 41 at one end where the straw enters, and having a guard 42 at the opposite end between the sides of which the straw is cut into lengths. This straw tube is secufed to the ends of a bar 43, and

the latter is slidably mounted in the upper' ends of the brackets 44, which latter are bolted down to the top of the machine-bed (as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5).

The saw-disk 45, which cuts the straws into lengths, must not only travel at the same speed as the straw, when the cut is made, to prevent back pressure and buckling of the straw, but also must swing up and out of the path of the straw; and in order to accomplish this in a simple way the shaft 46 which carries the saw-disk 45 and the'hollow shaft 47 within which shaft 46 is housed and turns are slidably mounted in sleeves 48 carried on the upper ends of the arms 49, which latter are hingedly connected to the brackets 44 by ivots 50, the said hollow shaft being of sue a length as to snugly fit between the drive pulle 64, and the saw disk 45, thereby causing t e shaft 46, to be reciprocated with it.

A collar 51 is secured on the hollow shaft 47 (see Figs. 1, 2 and 5), and an arm 52 secured to the collar 51 and slidably mounted on the rod 53 held at its ends in arms 49, carries an anti-friction roller 54 at one end, which traverses the peripheral cam groove 37 of the main drum '36, and a forward extension 55 of this arm 52 extends between anti-friction rollers 56 of which there are a pair carried by the sleeve 57 adjustably secured by set screw or other means 58 to the bar 43.

In this way the knife-disk with its shaft, and the outer shaft, and the straw-tube, and bar 43 which carries it, are moved rapidly back and forth, always moving forward with the straw, and at the same forward speed of the latter as a cut is being made, and the cut takes place when the roller 54 is approximately at the center a of the main inclined portion of the per'zpheral camgroove 37 in the drum 36 (as shown in F ig. 1).

The arms 49 which support the saw-disk and its shaft are rocked back and forth at predetermined intervals by the anti-friction roller '59, operating in the end cam groove 38, which by dropping momentarily into the recess'60 of the cam 38 causes the frame with the saw to swing laterally acros the path of the straw to cut the latter, and'immediately get out of the way, this taking place once with each rotation 'of the drum 36. The anti-friction roller. 59 is carried by an arm 61 connected with the left hand sleeve 48.

The saw-disk is driven by' belt 62, running over a pulley 63 on the main drive sha t 19, and a pulley 64 on the shaft 46.

It is understood, of course, the speed of the various parts is regulated to suit the requirements. The straw is rotated on the -mandrel as it is formed, and is fed forward at a rapid rate. The strips 5, 6, and 7, are started in the beginning on the mandrel 1n the order mentioned, after which one winds continuously beneath the other, the uppermost 7 only receiving the glue and bein su erimposed on the other two.

he frame which carries the saw periodi- 'cally rocks and is continuously reciprocated,

it always traveling forward with the speed of the straw at the instant the frame swmgsv toward the straw, and the straw is cut, the saw turning in the same direction as that in which the straw turns.

1' claim:

1. The combination with mechanism for feeding and spinning strips into a completed spirally wound tube or straw and imparting an endwise travel thereto, of a cut-off comprising a straw tube adapted to receive the tube or straw, a cutting disk, andmeans independent of the movement of the straw for moving the straw tube and cutting'd-isk forward with the endwise travel ofthe tube or straw and means for automatically throwing the cutting disk in and out of the path of the straw.

2. The combination with means for feeding strips of paper, and spinning them into a completed spirally-wound tube or straw,

.of a cut-off comprising a drum having a cam on its periphery and one on its end, an oscillating frame which carries a disk, means carried by the frame and engaging the end groove of the cam-wheel whereby said frame is oscillated, a straw tube in alinement with the feeding and spinning means, and means operated by the peripheral cam for moving the straw tube endwise in the direction of travel of the tube or straw.

3. The combination with a main and a counter-shaft, vertical shafts having pulleys thereon, intermeshing gears secured to the vertical and counter-shafts for driving said vertical shafts, a mandrel, and a cross-belt carried over said pulleys and wound around or straw, of a cut-oil mechanism comprising a rotary cutting disk driven from the main shaft, a drum carried by the counter-shaft and having peripheral and end cam grooves, a reciprocating straw tube adapted to receive the tube or straw from said mandrel, and means operated by the peripheral cam for reciprocating the straw tube and cutting disk, and arms operated by the end cam groove for rocking the cutting disk in and out of the path of the straw.

4. The combination with a mandrel and means for spinning straws thereon, of a cutoff comprising a shaft carrying a cutting disk, a hollow shaft surrounding said shaft, a rocking frame supporting said hollow shaft, a collar secured to the hollow shaft, and having an extension at one end, and an anti-friction roller at the other, a reciprocating bar, a straw tube adapted to receive the tube or straw from said mandrel secured to the bar, a sleeve adjustably secured on the bar and having anti-friction rollers between which the extension on the collar extends and a drum having a peripheral and end cam grooves in the latter of which the antifriction roller travels for reciprocating the cutting disk, its shaft, and the hollow shaft, and an arm carried by the frame-having an anti-friction roller which extends into the end cam groove of the drum for swingin the cutting disk and disk-shaft laterally, an

means for rotating the drum and disk-sha ft.

5. The combination with a machine-bed or frame, and gluing and spinning mechanism, of a cut off comprising a straw tube, a saw, a drum having a cam on its periphery and one on its end, means cooperating with the said cams for moving the saw and tube endwise and the saw laterally, a main drive .connected with said drum, and gears for transmitting motion from said main drive to the spinning mechanism.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ALBERT A. CARPER. 

